Gina Ford: 4 months sleep regression or growth spurt?

fluffnutter

notanewuser wrote: »

Thats true. I was a "good sleeper" (doesnt mean i didnt wake at night, i just didnt make a fuss). My sister didn't sleep through until she started school. :eek:

Now you're frightening me

notanewuser

fluffnutter wrote: »

Now you're frightening me

DD's best friends are hurtling towards 3 and out of the 4 of them 3 still wake every night (for boob/milk or reassurance) and the other sleeps through most nights but wakes at 5am no matter what time she goes down.

Babies and toddlers don't "get" what parents think they "should" do (even if they have been beaten into submission by Gina Ford).


DD went to bed at 9pm last night and woke at 11am this morning.

katiechoc_2

I'll second Fluffnutter - solids made no difference to my LO either, we started weaning at 5 months as I as getting desperate for more than 2 hours sleep at a time. Only thing that improved his sleep was controlled crying (when he was 9.5 months old), before i get jumped on it was a last resort when I was desperate.

Eta - controlled crying is different to cry it out.

msnigella

unschooler wrote: »

Seems to me that the most harmful thing mothers and their babies experience is other people telling them what not to do.

Exactly this.

Gosh so many mums just LOVE to judge. I think this may be due to their own insecurities about their parenting abilities / methods.

debsue

Can anyone tell me how many children Gina Ford has and what are her credentials?

fluffnutter

katiechoc wrote: »

I'll second Fluffnutter - solids made no difference to my LO either, we started weaning at 5 months as I as getting desperate for more than 2 hours sleep at a time. Only thing that improved his sleep was controlled crying (when he was 9.5 months old), before i get jumped on it was a last resort when I was desperate.

Eta - controlled crying is different to cry it out.

Yep. This is the only thing that's made Freddie go from six wakes a night to just two. And I'm happy with those two. I want to keep feeding him until at least 12 months so I'm happy to do a couple of night feeds (only one of which wakes me up, the other is early enough that I'm still awake) to keep my prolactin levels up.

As a culture we're very obsessed with getting our babies to sleep through the night. Partly due to sleep deprivation obviously, but also because of the pressures of work. Who wants to be woken five times a night when you've got to get up and do eight hours in the office? It's a cultural thing though. If we can cope with broken sleep and don't need to work, then the impetus to get your baby sleeping well is not so strong. Once that happens, you do actually find yourself much more relaxed about things. Even though Freddie wakes frequently, my actual quantity of sleep is OK - just broken.

Controlled crying not recommended for under six months btw.

fluffnutter

debsue wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how many children Gina Ford has and what are her credentials?

She doesn't have any I believe. However, I'm not of the personal opinion that that automatically precludes you from being a childcare expert. Studying child development from an academic perspective can be enough to be able to advise, in fact your objectivity might be a bonus.

Nope, it's not her lack of kids that's the problem, it's the fact that she's a twat. 'Contented Little Baby'? Bollox. 'Contented Little Mummy' more like. It's the least baby-centric approach imaginable and is all about forcing a routine on your child so that mummy can go to work/the gym/get her nails done or whatever.

Being a working parent is hard, of course it is, and there's not a working woman out there who won't say that establishing a good routine is paramount if you want to keep your sanity. But there are ways and means and your child's needs are more important than your employer's. I know I'm rather black and white about this... but if you can't change your lifestyle a little to accommodate your children, don't have any.

thefishdude

debsue wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how many children Gina Ford has and what are her credentials?

gina ford is a former maternity nurse, with no formal qualifications, formal training or more importantly children of her own

notanewuser

fluffnutter wrote: »

She doesn't have any I believe. However, I'm not of the personal opinion that that automatically precludes you from being a childcare expert. Studying child development from an academic perspective can be enough to be able to advise, in fact your objectivity might be a bonus.

Nope, it's not her lack of kids that's the problem, it's the fact that she's a twat. 'Contented Little Baby'? Bollox. 'Contented Little Mummy' more like. It's the least baby-centric approach imaginable and is all about forcing a routine on your child so that mummy can go to work/the gym/get her nails done or whatever.

Being a working parent is hard, of course it is, and there's not a working woman out there who won't say that establishing a good routine is paramount if you want to keep your sanity. But there are ways and means and your child's needs are more important than your employer's. I know I'm rather black and white about this... but if you can't change your lifestyle a little to accommodate your children, don't have any.

Ooh, I wish I could thank you more than once for this post!